This is an archive article published on February 11, 2025

Noida elderly man, family placed under digital arrest for 5 days, lose Rs 1.10 crore

According to the Noida police, the scammers told the victim that there are 24 cyber cases against him, apart from a case of money laundering with the Crime Branch.

2 min readNoidaUpdated: Feb 11, 2025 05:15 PM IST

Haryana Police said overall crime has declined by 8 per cent in January and February this year compared to last year, while extortion calls have reduced by around 40 per cent. (Representational Image)

Cybercriminals, posing as top police officers, allegedly placed a 73-year-old man in Noida, his wife, and their daughter under digital arrest for five days and duped them of over Rs 1.10 crore, the police said on Tuesday.

According to the police at Noida’s cyber crime station, the victim, identified as Chandrabhan Paliwal, a resident of Noida’s Sector 19, received a call on February 1 from a caller asking him to contact the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to prevent the police from blocking his SIM card.

“The caller also said that my case is with the Mumbai Cyber Crime police, and there are 24 cyber cases against me apart from a case of money laundering with the Crime Branch,” Paliwal told the police.

Story continues below. Subscribe to see fewer ads.

Must Read | What is ‘digital arrest’, and what can you do to ensure you don’t fall victim to cybercriminals?

The scammers, in a series of phone calls, allegedly threatened Paliwal and his family, who were “under surveillance”, and asked him to ensure that his phone had a full battery charge. “On February 3, I saw a man acting as a judge who denied me bail and asked me to transfer Rs 1,10,08,000 within the next three days,” he said in the First Information Report (FIR).

The cyber fraudsters told Paliwal that his Aadhaar card was sent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating the alleged case.

“The victim was scammed by receiving multiple calls over WhatsApp by different numbers. We are probing the matter,” Preeti Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cyber Crime, Noida, told The Indian Express.

The police on Thursday registered a case for extortion and cheating under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and slapped relevant sections of the IT Act based on the complaint of Paliwal.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Loading Recommendations...

Oct 08: Latest News

Live Blog